So I dropped my fermenter the other day. No, it didn't burst (it's plastic), and it didn't even spill, but it did shake this crap out of it during high krausen. So, any bets on whether my dubbel is oxidized enough to taste like wet cardboard?

So I dropped my fermenter the other day. No, it didn't burst (it's plastic), and it didn't even spill, but it did shake this crap out of it during high krausen. So, any bets on whether my dubbel is oxidized enough to taste like wet cardboard?

Yeah, probably.. I opened it up right before that to check the temperature.

Opening a fermentor to check temperature? Get yourself one of those stickers that does it for you. They're like 99 cents. I'm still trying to imagine how significant oxygen got in without spilling beer. I suspect you are fine. Do what the license plate says.

Why does it matter if oxygen gets in? Doesn't oxygen get in when you rack to a secondary?

Not if you do it right. The idea when racking beer, weather to secondary or bottling is to keep it as smooth as possible. Keep the agitation to a minimum to keep oxygen out.

Supposedly, if you aerate your beer (after or during fermentation) it can give it the flavor of wet cardboard.

Example:

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewt00l

Depends on how aerated the beer was...I've tasted very mild examples of wet cardboard and extreme examples that would be best described as wet cardboard pulled from a NYC restaurant dumpster in mid-July. It's a pretty unmistakable flavor.

That's one of the reasons why you're supposed to siphon your beer as opposed to just dumping it around in various containment vessels.